Posts Tagged ‘dating’
It Was A Bad Week For Missed Connections
Sometimes, Craigslist Missed Connections have the power to renew your faith in love-at-first sight. Other times, they will destroy your faith in humanity. This is one of those times.
I don’t know what possibly could have happened this week to inspire some of the saddest missed connections that I have ever seen, but it’s not my place to speculate—Internet stalking works in mysterious ways.
First up: can two “sell outs” make it work?
BRUCE CONCERT AT VERIZON (Verizon Center)
Did the Washington Post Censor the Boning?
Today’s inevitable Washington Post feature on people who aren’t on Facebook actually got a little bit interesting when it turned its attentions to Ricardo Thomas, 23. Thomas “hates typing and computers,” but he does rely on more connected friends to help him Facebook stalk his ex-girlfriend. Thomas doesn’t call her is ex-girlfriend, however. This is what Thomas says to reporter Ian Shapira:
“Last week, I was over at a friend’s house, and he showed me a picture on Facebook of a girl I used to” date, Thomas said.
Woah! Isn’t it interesting how expertly Shapira snipped that quote juuuust before Thomas was about to describe, in his own words, what he “used to” do with that girl on Facebook?
University Sex Columns, Reviewed
This week, the Nation’s Alex Dibranco provided a brief history of the “Student Sex Column Movement.” The college sex column, Dibranco argues, is “a radical progressive movement in the sense of pushing against traditional silence and the status quo,” she writes. “Challenges to the columns stem from a conservative mindset . . . Given that the Republican Party has become increasingly dominated by the religious right and the issues of the conservative culture wars, with sex smack at the forefront, these columns become politicized in a way the columnists themselves don’t necessarily intend. . . . the statement that ’sex is OK’ becomes even more politically charged when the sex in question is generally unmarried and occasionally queer.”
Criticisms of D.C.-area student sex columns, however, rarely take the form of the right-wing, anti-sex diatribe. At local colleges and universities, sex columnists are more likely to catch heat for furthering sex-negative sentiments, antiquated gender roles, or sloppy writing.
Books You Don’t Want Your Lover to Love
“Books”: it’s the most dangerous section of a young lover’s Facebook profile. A bad favorite novel—whether revealed by accident, or deliberately placed on one’s bedside table as an act of intellectual seduction—has the power to put a damper on a once-exciting courtship. I’ve never stopped seeing someone based on their favorite book, but looking back, there were signs. Here, I’ll note that heated literary disagreements can actually help to build a healthy and intellectually stimulating relationship. Or, it can devolve into resentment, condescension, and spirited book-burning. Here are my deal-breaker books:
Dating Advice for the Recently Incarcerated
A recent query on the anonymous relationship advice messageboard on LipstickAlley:
How soon after Man is released from Prison do you date him?
Let’s say you meet a man tall, attractive, no kids, and then he drops the bomb I have been in jail for the last ten years and just got out 8 months ago. What do you do? Would you immediately stop talking? Would you be curious about if he had sex with another man? Is him being released so recently an issue?
Would anyone date a man just freed from prison?
Why Pick-Up Game Hurts Everyone Except the Guy Shilling Books
In the wake of George Sordini’s killing spree last week, the mainstream media has criticized Pick-Up Artist community for promoting misogynist cultural attitudes that hurt women and girls. (Sordini was a sometimes-devotee of R. Don Steele, author of such douchebag manuals as Date Young Women: For Men Over 35). Pandagon’s Amanda Marcotte, meanwhile, has tackled the more difficult task of arguing why Pick-Up Artist rhetoric hurts men, too. Pick-Up Artist devotees scam women to extract sex; Pick-Up Artist “masters” scam the devotees to extract money.
The two exchanges are surprisingly similar—both target those with low self-esteem to exploit them for personal gain. Here’s how it works: The Pick-Up Artist devotee feels worthless. He is informed that self-worth may be secured by having sex with women agreed to be attractive by the Pick-Up Artist community. He is told that in order to have sex with these women, he must not “be himself”—remember, he is worthless. Instead, he must pay exorbitant amounts of money to learn the correct “tactics” not to gain self-worth—but to convince the women that it is they who are truly worthless. Only the Pick-Up Artist “master” wins here—he gets the cash regardless of the outcome of the sexual conquest, while feeling superior to his male devotees (who are, in turn, superior to all women).
“How to Date Out of Your League“—a very elementary-level, college age version of game written by COED Magazine’s Michael Dance—makes this dynamic perfectly clear.
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Big Penis Dating Site Reveals Inches Before First Date
“Seven or Better” is a new online dating site for women and men interested in meeting men with penises that are confirmed to be seven inches or longer (the site doesn’t clarify, but I’m assuming we’re talking erect). “Hello ladies,” the Web site begins. “Wouldn’t it be nice to know upfront if a man has what it takes to satisfy you sexually?”
No. But go on:
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Chris Brown Rihanna Assault Reenactment: Activism or Voyeurism?
DoSomething.org has staged a video reenactment of Chris Brown’s assault of Rihanna, based on details from the police report. The video features two fresh-faced white teenagers (not the celeb look-a-likes) miming the fight while a narrator reads from the police detective’s account of the incident:
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I’d Date That Douche
Douchebags have been getting laid for centuries; now, their victims are finally speaking out. On Sorry Mom, readers can submit anecdotes and photos (eyes obscured) in order to detail for posterity how they “bang the worst dudes” (I’m not sure why it’s only dudes—there are plenty of lady douches to go around). Reading the tales of douchery, however, it’s clear that one woman’s douche is another’s date. Hey, some of them aren’t that bad! Would you date these douches?
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DOUCHEBAG: “This bogan thought that living on a bumble-fuck farm playing pool at the only pub and dressing up in panda masks while pretending to hump his friends was fun. I tried to help him sort it out, but it seems some freaks cannot be saved.”
OR IS HE? Could someone please tell me how I can get to this bumble-fuck farm, because it sounds awesome.
Inauguration Date Round-Up:
Only days remain to secure a date to the inauguration. Fuck it, hit Craigslist.
* Do you want to see Jay-Z at love tonight? Get ready for some “affection and passion, for the feeling of that first kiss, tingles you feel from a certain touch, soft whispers that excite and move you, and intimate feelings that stir your soul,” because that’s what you might have to endure to win a ticket to the club. “LOOKING FOR A LADY TO ATTEND LOVE NIGHT CLUB AND PARK NIGHT WITH ME THIS WEEKEND TO CELEBRATE THE BRINGING OF OUT NEW PRESIDENT,” writes the poster, who offers up club tickets alongside “discreet affectionate romance, erotic passion, and intense excitement.” The posting is accompanied by an illustration of a single rose dripping in diamonds with a cursive script reading, “Hello.”
